


Lion Jinn

by esama



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Crack Treated Seriously, Fluff and Crack, Other, Reincarnation
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-23
Updated: 2017-10-23
Packaged: 2019-01-21 18:24:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,754
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12463338
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/esama/pseuds/esama
Summary: Qui-Gon Jinn reincarnates as a lion.





	Lion Jinn

**Author's Note:**

> As you do.  
> Unbetaed

Later Anakin can't quite explain it.

He wakes up cold in the entirely too large bed they'd given him in Theed Palace, in the even bigger guest room in the all-too-enormous guest _wing_ where he and Obi-Wan Kenobi were the only guests, currently. Falling asleep had taken a while, everything just seemed to echo endlessly in that wide open space, and though Theed is warmer than Coruscant, it's still so cold. And waking up he feels like he's not slept at all.

It wasn't a nightmare that woke him, or sound, or anything. It was a feeling, an uneasy alarm. Like he'd forgotten to do something really important, like maybe he'd left a plasma torch on, or maybe forgot to turn on the security at the shop, or maybe there's a stove on or – or something. He's missed something and he needs to go and check it, right now.

There shouldn't be anything – thanks to Padmé, the palace servants and the handmaidens are making sure all his and Obi-Wan's needs are looked into. They're not supposed to have to worry about anything for now, not about food or even water or anything. Anakin had even been given new clothes, a nice clean tunic and everything. He shouldn't have missed something because there was nothing to miss.

Still. Anakin hadn't survived pod racing this long by ignoring his gut feelings, so up he gets, leaving the mile wide bed and quickly shrugging on the cloak they'd given him when he asked about the cold, if it was like this everywhere. It wasn't quite a Jedi cloak – though Obi-Wan had assured him that he would be a Jedi, never mind what the council would say when they arrived, Obi-Wan would teach him regardless of what they thought. The Naboo didn't have Jedi cloaks – but it was closest they could get, a black cape to throw around him with a hood. It was pretty nice – and warm – even if it didn't have sleeves.

Wrapped in the cloak, Anakin stepped outside and then hesitated momentarily over Obi-Wan's door. The Jedi had said he could go to him for anything, that Obi-Wan would do his utmost to help him, that was his duty now, but…

Shaking his head a little, Anakin heads away, following the feeling of _here, you need to come here, you need to do this._ Maybe it's Jar Jar. Or R2-D2, Anakin hasn't seen him in a day or so, maybe they'd forgotten to give him proper maintenance. Or maybe…

The feeling leads him out a window, which has been left slightly ajar to let the air in. Anakin hesitates only for a moment and then climbs out, dropping down to the grass outside and then following the feeling into the dark, quiet garden, and through it. Up a thing of vines, across a bit of wall, up a rooftop…

He's starting to get a little worried by the time the feeling leads him away from any place in Theed he's been to before, and to a wholly new section. Usually his _feelings_ led him to places he knew. Qui-Gon had told him to trust his feelings and his instincts, that they were the Force, speaking to him and guiding him – but this is starting to be a little weird…

The feeling leads him to a weird, grandiose gate – he slips right through it and into… into…

It looks a bit like slave pen. It looks a lot like slave pen actually. There are fences and gates and barred enclosures everywhere. For a moment Anakin just stands there, horrified – surely the Naboo don't keep slaves, Padmé had said it was illegal in Republic, surely they _wouldn't_ …

Then he hears a quiet snarl and sees – it's not people in those barred cells. It's animals. A weird lizard thing brushes past the bars on its way elsewhere and in another Anakin can see a bird, ruffling its feathers.

Oh, a stable? Yeah, that must be it. A really grandiose sort of stable, which just fits the Naboo to a T, doesn't it? The animals here don't look like something you could ride or make carry your things, though…

Curious and enthralled – and beckoned by the increasingly _urgent_ feeling in the pit of his belly – Anakin hurries forward. There are a lot of enclosures here – and soon Anakin figures out they're lot bigger than they look. What he can see on the pathway he's on is just a fraction – the enclosures go deep into the surrounding grounds, covering a lot of ground. Really, really weird stable, he muses, peering at all the weird creatures. Colourful lizards and weird felines and lot of birds with really, really extravagant feathers…

The _feeling_ leads him deeper and deeper in to the dark, strange stable, until he brings him to another enclosure. He can't see what's in it, just that the grounds are sort of desert-ish, with sandy brown grass and few trees, a water feature and lots of rocks. Nothing like some of the closures, which are packed full of plants.

Here, the feeling says. This one.

Anakin is pretty sure he couldn't have forgotten anything here, he's never even been here before, he has no idea what this place even is. But, trust your instincts and all that…

Getting into the enclosure isn't terribly difficult. It's barred from him by a high wall of golden bars, and glass window – both of which he figures out how to climb without too much trouble. Dropping down into the enclosure, he looks around and then follows the feeling deeper in, past the water feature and the rocks and the trees, to the back where the grass is tallest, and there's some bushes too.

There, he hears a warning growl – and then a _feeling_. A different feeling. A _familiar_ feeling. Feeling he can't… explain at all.

There's a creature there, in the grass – a huge feline thing with four legs and big head and fur like Tatooine sand. It – she? Yes that sounds right – is lying on the grass on her side, propped up by one elbow and peering at him with eyes that gleam in the darkness.

There are little felines at her side, nosing at her belly and awkwardly squirming about

Anakin blinks and looks down.

One of the little feline things is crawling away from the bigger feline thing, towards him, an awkward sort of belly crawl like it can't quite use its legs yet, and it feels… it _feels_ …

Anakin crouches down and reaches for the little feline thing. The – mother? – growls softly at him, and then there is that _feeling_ again, the familiar feeling of a presence Anakin had learned to know and trust and – and which was supposed to be gone.

He'd felt it _go_. And Obi-Wan told him – he'd not been lying, Anakin knows that much, Obi-Wan had been hurting so bad, he couldn't have been lying. And he hadn't been, because…

Anakin picks the squirming little thing up – well not that little, really. In comparison to the mother, it is tiny, but in Anakin's hands it weights well over a kilogram and fits only barely to both his palms. It's warm, and little bit damp and he thinks it was probably just born. It looks like a new born, all awkward and squirmy – it can't even open its eyes yet.

The newborn feline settles in his cupped palms, one foot falling to hang between Anakin's fingers before it's tucked back in, and the little thing is opening a toothless mouth as if to make a noise, but nothing comes out. Letting out the slightest huff of a breath, the little – in future huge – feline curls up in his palms while Anakin just stares in wonder.

"You're…"

* * *

 

"… Qui-Gon?" Obi-Wan repeats.

Anakin squirms a little, holding the feline to his chest protectively under Obi-Wan's strange stare. It seems judgemental, it seems hurt, it seems hollow, it seems – awful. And Anakin realises, somewhat distantly, that he probably did something bad, from Obi-Wan's point of view.

He'd be hurt too, if his Mom died and then someone came and brought him a cat and said, here, this is your Mom, she's a cat now. In hindsight, that is actually kind of terrible.

"I… can't explain," Anakin says and looks down at the feline. He's asleep in Anakin's hands, curled up tight to himself with little tail tucked between his little legs, pink pads of his feet barely visible from where they are tucked against his belly. It is – not much like Qui-Gon is it. "But I swear, he feels just like Qui-Gon – and, and Force led me there, I swear, it had to be. I mean, I didn't even know that place, I still don't know what that place even is, and –"

"Anakin," Obi-Wan says, very slow and measured and Anakin stops, staring at him with hopeless trepidation. Obi-Wan doesn't look like he knows what to say or think – he just looks tired and hurt. Still, he takes a breath and then kneels down in front of him, to look him to his eyes. "Anakin – Master Qui-Gon is… gone."

 "I felt it, I know what I felt – it's him," Anakin almost pleads and holds the little feline out to Obi-Wan. "I'm not making this up, I wouldn't make this up."

"It's just – not possible," Obi-Wan says wearily and looks down. He shakes his head. "What you have there is a lion cub – a baby lion cub. And – I don't even know _how_ you found it or got it away from its mother, but we need to take it back."

"Obi-Wan, it's not – I – it's Qui-Gon," Anakin says. "I swear it is – just, hold him? Okay? Just for a moment?"

"Anakin," Obi-.Wan sighs.

"Please, just for a moment – you'll know it's him when you touch him," Anakin says and holds the – lion? – out to the Jedi. "Just – hold him."

Obi-Wan hesitates, glancing down. He opens his mouth to argue and then sighs, a mixed look of weary resignation on his face. "Fine – but then we are taking it back," he says and holds out his hands.

Qui-Gon looks even _smaller_ when Obi-Wan holds him. Just a tiny little bundle of sand brown fur, with darker spots on it head, round ears drooping down kind of sleepily – he looks almost comically tiny and vulnerable.

There's nothing comical about the look on Obi-Wan's face, or the sharp inhale he draws, the way his fingers curl around the lion cub – the way he then curls around him, drawing him to his chest. "Qui-Gon," he whispers.

"Told you," Anakin says and leans in. Qui-Gon is squirming a little in Obi-Wan's hands, one leg flailing up and then it falls over in Obi-Wan's hands. The Jedi lets out a noise of disbelieved distress and together they stare at Qui-Gon, lying on his back against Obi-Wan's chest, flailing his little legs every which way to try and regain balance.

Awkward and terribly, heartbreakingly careful, Obi-Wan falls to his knees and helps the lion cub to settle on his lap, right way around. Qui-Gon opens and closes his toothless mouth and then squirms towards Obi-Wan's belly, kicking at his tunic with his legs, nails snagging in on the weaving of the fabric.

"What?" Obi-Wan whispers. "What is this?"

"Don't look at me," Anakin says, crouching down and shuffling closer on his knees. "I just – felt it."

Obi-Wan looks up and then looks down at his master, reborn, as a lion. The noise he makes is weird, a sob and a laugh and choked disbelief, as he cups his hands around the squirming feline body, bringing it closer.

"This is… impossible," Obi-Wan says, his voice faint. "Utterly completely _ludicrous_. This is – _Master_ …"

"Are you going to _cry_?" Anakin asks, a bit scared that he might.

"I might," Obi-Wan admits and looks up. And then, like drawn by gravity, he looks down again. He swallows and shakes his head and clears his throat. "I – don't – tell me again how did you find him?" he asks.

Anakin does, settling down to sit cross-legged across from Obi.-Wan and listing everything he'd done, point by point, from waking up in his bed to going to the weird stable to coming back with little lion Qui-Gon. "I really don't know," Anakin says. "I just – had a feeling."

Obi-Wan has calmed down a little, though his fingers are still shaking where he's slowly brushing them down Qui-Gon's fur. "You had a feeling," he repeated and Anakin shrugs. "Well it was certainly Force speaking to you. You are very strong in it – if someone could… feel this, it would be you. It doesn't explain how, but…" he trails off and looks down again.

For a moment they're quiet, just staring at Qui-Gon – who has squirmed his way to Obi-Wan's belly and has tucked his nose just under the edge of Obi-Wan's tunic. He's still kicking with his hind feet, so he's not asleep, but he's not doing much more.

"What are we going to do?" Anakin asks.

Obi-Wan shakes his head. "I – have no idea," he admits and then lifts a head. "He's a newborn," he then says.

"Yeah, yeah I think so," Anakin agrees and reaches over to press a fingertip on the pink pad in the middle of Qui-Gon's foot. It's… even softer than it looks. "I think I felt him the moment he was born."

Obi-Wan blinks and looks down. "Oh, Force – we need to _feed_ him something," he says and shifts as if to get up, and then collapses down to his knees again. "I have no idea what to feed to a lion cub," he then says confusedly and blinks. "He will need some form of specialised formula. We need see if we can – oh," he says and runs a hand over his face. "Oh dear."

"What?" Anakin asks.

"Well, in essence you stole a new born lion cub from a zoo," Obi-Wan says, even as he clasps a protective – possessive – hand over Qui-Gon's back. "It's… a little much to go asking the Naboo for something to feed a creature we _stole_ from them."

"But it's _Qui-Gon_. It's not really stealing when it's a friend – what were we going to do, just leave him there, in a _cage_?" Anakin points out. "And we saved their planet. They owe us, right?"

"Anakin – people don't _owe_ Jedi anything," Obi-Wan starts and then stops and sighs, looking down at Qui-Gon.

"You wouldn't just give him back, right?" Anakin asks him warily.

"Certainly _not_ ," Obi-Wan says immediately and then slumps a little. "No," he says calmer. "I couldn't."

"Right. So we just ask them and we don't give him back and if it's stealing, then… well it's not, it's more a rescue really. And Padmé won't mind if we explain it to her and really they _do_ owe us – and if they don't owe you because you're Jedi then they owe me, because I'm not a Jedi yet," Anakin says, nodding in satisfaction at his own logic and then jumps to his feet. "So lets go ask them for something to feed Qui-Gon. What else are we going to do?"

Obi-Wan hesitates and then nods. "No, you're right, that is precisely what we're going to do," he says and then carefully eases his fingers under Qui-Gon, to lift his form up to his arms. "Let's go."

* * *

 

Padmé doesn't understand. She stares long and confused as Obi-Wan, who looks a bit like he's not sure if he should slump with embarrassment or stand strong and firm and just take his punishment. Anakin has made his mind though – his mind is to not be embarrassed in the least.

"It's really confusing and I don't know how to explain it, but apparently Jedi can just… sort of be reborn," Anakin says and shrugs. "I don't know why he was reborn as a lion, but he was, and that's that."

Obi-Wan winces, glancing at him, at the lion cub halfway tucked under the lapels of his tunic and then he looks up at the queen. "That's not – this is very unseal, I understand, unheard even for a Jedi," he says awkwardly. "I don't know how it is possible, I would say it isn't – if I couldn't feel him. This creature," he looks down at the lion, that heartbroken look on his face again. "Has Master Qui-Gon's presence. I know it better than my own. Anakin is telling the truth."

Padmé looks at him and then at Anakin and then at the lion cub. "I don't even," she starts to say and then runs a hand over her hair, pushing a stray strand from her face. She's in simpler clothes now, not the full queen get up, and her hair isn't done yet. It is pretty early in the morning. "I'm sorry, I don't have the time to uncompress this – _what_ is it that you want?" she asks confusedly.

Obi-Wan flinches a little. "He is a newborn," he says quietly, guiltily. "Anakin – rather took him without second thought. We haven't the way to feed him."

"Ah, right, of course," Padmé says and shakes her head. "I will have someone to visit the zoo to get you all the supplies you need. And in light of all that's happened, I will take your word as the truth. Just – ask first next time?"

"Yes, of course," Obi-Wan says and bows his head. "Thank you, your Majesty."

"Thank you, Padmé!" Anakin pipes up too, and then quickly mimics Obi-Wan and bows just as deep.

And that's, apparently, that.

* * *

 

A day – and couple of awkward discoveries about how to take care of lion cubs – later, the Jedi arrive. By that time, Obi-Wan has taken to carrying Qui-Gon tucked into his tunics, where the lion cup lies curled in sleep most of the time until he gets hungry and then Obi-Wan has a feeding bottle immediately at hand – or if he doesn't, then Anakin does. It's not like he'd just leave Obi-Wan to it.

They get a lot of weird looks with the whole thing, lot of confused staring, but at the Queen's decree, no one questions it. It's a lot and lot of long, confused staring though, every time a little lion head peeks out from beneath the beige cloth of Obi-Wan's tunic and makes small, raspy little sounds.

He's basically hogging Qui-Gon to himself, but though Anakin is tiny bit jealous at first, in the end works just fine for him. Turns out baby lions, like baby people, can't control their bowel movements in the beginning. And it's not like you can put a diaper on a lion. Obi-Wan can deal with that all on his own, as far as Anakin goes.

Obi-Wan on teeters somewhere between duty and horror and overwhelming love and seems to have tipped over some mental line into adoring resignation. He keeps a hand on the cub pretty much all the time, either on his back or supporting him through the cloth of his tunic, so… at this point people would probably have to pry Qui-Gon from Obi-Wan at blaster point. And probably even then Obi-Wan wouldn't let him go, whipping out a lightsaber instead.

It makes the looks the Jedi Council people give Obi-Wan kind of hilarious.

"Padawan Kenobi," Master Windu says, looking between him, the lion cub, Anakin, and then back to him. "Explain yourself."

"I –" Obi-Wan starts and stops and then just shakes his head and kneels down, Anakin quickly going down to kneel beside him. Obi-Wan eases squirming Qui-Gon from his usual place, tucked on a towel very strategically situated between the folds of cloth of Obi-Wan's tunic. He's a little stronger now, and he has one eye peeking open a little, but he's still a tiny wiggly furry thing.

"I can't, in a way you would believe me, Masters," Obi-Wan admits. "I hardly believe it myself. But – I can prove this is – is – ah, Master Yoda," he glances at the little master, resting a hand on the lion cub's back and gently stroking the fur in order. "If you would, please – touch him?"

"Hrmm," the green troll answers and taps his way over, every other step leaning onto a little cane. He stands firmly in front of Obi-Wan for a moment and then closes his eye and leans over, holding a hand in the air just little over Obi-Wan's. A thoughtful frown crosses his face and then he lays his little, three fingered hand on Obi-Wan's.

"Qui-Gon it is," the little Master says. "His Force presence this lion carries."

"That's impossible," Mace Windu says, stepping closer. "That's – unheard of."

"Strong in the Force Master Qui-Gon was. Is," Yoda says and nods his head, not opening his eyes. "A true Master of the Living Force Qui-Gon is. If one in our Order could learn such a skill, Qui-Gon it would be."

" _Living_ Force?" Anakin whispers to Obi-Wan.

"I'll explain later," Obi-Wan mouths at him.

"See for yourself you should," Yoda says to Windu. "Feel him you will."

Master Windu frowns a little and then comes down to one knee, to pet the baby lion. Qui-Gon lets out a huff and turns his head towards Obi-Wan's hand, tucking his nose into the Jedi's palm. Obi-Wan's expression twitches, a brief joy and fondness crossing it over, before he gets it back under control.

Anakin grins – Qui-Gon just licked Obi-Wan's palm. His expression is _hilarious_ every time it happens.

"How is this –" Master Windu starts and then frowns. "Qui-Gon Jinn, you live to be a nuisance," he mutters then and pulls his hand back, brushing his fingers together. "We will need to look through the archives, see if there are any previous incidents of this nature. I feel no Darkness in him, but to be reborn to a new body – that is not the _Jedi_ way."

"Master?" Obi-Wan asks in alarm.

"It is in sense at least a concept of immortality, Padawan Kenobi," Windu points out. "Does that seem like something a Jedi would strive towards? If this now means that after death Qui-Gon Jinn will instead of joining the Force – as all living things should – simply jump into a new body to inhabit…"

Obi-Wan blinks. "My Master isn't Dark," he whispers in outrage.

"No, Dark Qui-Gon Jinn is not," Yoda says. "But teeter on that edge he always has. Very neutral, often grey his thinking was." He reaches out to whack at Windu's knee with his stick. "And not alone in that he is. Only think in biology and base organic mechanisms of Force Qui-Gon always did. Not Dark and not Light, but _life_. And neither Light nor Dark life is. Life only _is_ and rarely inherently bad it is."

"Tch," Master Windu says and stands up, while Anakin looks between the three Jedi in completely utter bafflement. "We'll be arguing of this for years to come," he mutters in tone of resignation and then looks at Obi-Wan and Anakin. "Explains this," he orders them. "From the very beginning, and leave nothing out."

"Yes, Master," Obi-Wan says and then looks at Anakin. "Anakin," he says, prodding at him with a gentle elbow.

"Right," Anakin says and straightens his back. They're still sitting on the floor on their knees, but it doesn't feel bad here – it doesn't feel like they've been forced to kneel. It feels like – like standing together, weirdly enough, to sit on his knees beside Obi-Wan who is also sitting on his knees. "The night before last I woke up to a weird _feeling,_ like I'd forgotten something really important…"

The two Jedi Masters listen to his tale without interrupting, watching him very keenly through the tale of sneaking out of the palace and through Theed to the zoo – Obi-Wan had explained what the place was, finally – and from there to the Lion enclosure – which they'd since gone to see again. The mother lion hadn't seemed to miss baby Qui-Gon at all – and the caretakers had called Qui-Gon the Runt of the Litter or something. He was a lot smaller than the other lion cubs that had been born.

"Hmrmm," Yoda hums, stroking his chin and saying nothing.

"Anakin woke me up in the early hours with Qui-Gon – I didn't believe it at first either, not before I touched him and felt his Force Presence," Obi-Wan says. "Our bond was still severed then. Once I realised who it was, we took steps to care for him. Queen Amidala kindly decreed that we may keep him, regardless of how we acquired him, and arranged his feeding. Since then we've… simply taken care of him."

He trails off for a moment and then takes a breath. "I should tell you about the Sith," he then says, looking a little frazzled. "About the battle and –"

"No need there is, recordings viewed we have, and your transmission everything covered," Yoda says. "Dead the Sith is, talk more of him we can later – priority this takes." He turns to Anakin. "Feel Qui-Gon you did the moment he was born you think?"

"Yeah," Anakin nods. "The caretakers at the zoo told us that he must've been just born hour or so before I got him, since he was still bit wet – and it took me a while to get there. So yeah, it must've been just when he was born.

"Strong your senses in the Force are," Yoda murmurs. "Recordings of the battle over the planet we have also seen, heard of your accomplishments we have. Guide you the Force does and strongly does it guide you."

"It leads me by the nose, more like," Anakin mutters, thinking back to Obi-Wan's near _panic_ when he'd discovered that Anakin had not only ended up in a space battle, but had sort of accidentally won it.

" _Just how powerful are you_?" Obi-Wan had let slip, and he'd sounded almost scared. He got it under control quickly and then fussed over Anakin a bunch, had healers check him over and everything, but it stuck with Anakin. Because as much as Obi-Wan had seemed scared of him – he'd seemed more scared for him.

"Lead you by the nose, you say?" Yoda says. "What makes you say so?"

Anakin shrugs and glances at Qui-Gon. "I don't mind that it led me to Qui-Gon, and I don't really mind that it took me up to the battle, but…" he frowns a bit. "It would've been nice to know at the time _why_ it was doing that. And if it keeps on doing it…" he trails away uneasily. "I don't really know if I want to keep on wandering to battlefields on Force's whims."

Yoda and Windu share a troubled look. Then Windu turns to Obi-Wan. "You said your bond with Qui-Gon was _still_ severed when Skywalker brought him to you," he says and arches a brow.

"Yes, Master."

"And now?"

Obi-Wan hesitates and then lifts a chin. "Our training bond was naturally severed when Master Qui-Gon fell. When Anakin brought him back to me, I… wasn't thinking quite straight in the beginning and when I felt his presence I automatically searched for our training bond," he says and his fingers card through the lion cub's fur. "I might have subconsciously encouraged it, but – there is a new bond growing now."

The two Masters watch him closely. "A training bond?" Windu asks.

"… No, Master," Obi-Wan admits quietly and lowers his gaze. "I don't think so."

"Hm. Is he aware?" Windu asks. "Can you communicate with him?"

"I can – feel his emotions and needs," Obi-Wan admits. "And I know he feels safe with me. But that is as much as I can glean so far. His emotions are simple. Hunger, tiredness, contentedness…"

"Hmrm," Yoda hums with a frown. "Examined the bond must be," he says severely. "By the mind healers of the Temple."

"Yes, Master," Obi-Wan says with bow of his head.

Anakin looks between them worriedly, wondering why it sounds like a bad thing. He doesn't know what a _bond_ is, what it means for Jedi, but Yoda and Windu both sound very serious and Obi-Wan feels a bit nervous, so it might be a bad thing.

Still, Obi-Wan is going back to the Temple, with Qui-Gon, probably. At least that's what it sounds like. "What about me?" Anakin asks nervously. "What's going to happen to me now?"

The two Jedi Masters turn to him, looking serious and thoughtful.

"Masters," Obi-Wan says quickly, cupping both hands around Qui-Gon gently. "I promised Master Qui-Gon that I would train Anakin to be a Jedi," he tells them. "I know he is a little old, and very emotional, I know it won't be easy, but… I promised my Master. I _will_ train him."

"Will you indeed," Windu repeats wryly

"And what of Qui-Gon, hmrmm?" Yoda asks and pokes Obi-Wan's cupped hands with his stick. "Abandon him will you now?"

"I will take care of him and I will train Anakin. I will do _both_ ," Obi-Wan says firmly.

"And I will help," Anakin says quickly, and shuffles closer to Obi-Wan. "I already am!"

"He is," Obi-Wan agrees, glancing at him with a slight smile and then down at Qui-Gon. Then he looks up at the Jedi Masters, his face set. "I will take care of them _both_."

The two Jedi Masters eye him for a long moment in silence, their faces unreadable. Then Windu glances at Yoda, who looks up, his brows rising a little. Sighing, Windu tugs his hands into his sleeves. "It's obvious enough that the Will of the Force is in work here," he says and looks down at them. "And who are we to argue against its rulings? Anakin Skywalker," he says. "Do you want to be a Jedi?"

"Yes!" Anakin says, maybe a little too quickly and little too loud, half rising to stand on his knees. Then he quickly settles back down and tries for a more reserved, "yes, I do, please. _Yes_."

"Hard work it will be," Yoda says, stroking his chin. "Many lessons you have to learn. Many years it will take – and pre-occupied your Master will be, with his Master," he adds, glancing at Obi-Wan, who is gently tucking Qui-Gon back into the folds of his tunic. "Hard work it will be for you both."

Anakin looks at Obi-Wan, who rests a hand on Qui-Gon's shape against the cloth of his tunic, and smiles. "I think we can handle it, Masters," Obi-Wan says and bows his head. "Thank you."

"Thank you," Anakin echoes and bows deep – little deeper than Obi-Wan, since he doesn't have a lion cup in his shirt. "I'll work hard."

"Good," Yoda says and then looks at Obi-Wan. "Confer you the rank of a Jedi Knight, the Jedi High Council does," he says somewhat ceremoniously. "And your padawan learner young Skywalker will be. Official this is."

"Thank you, Masters," Obi-Wan repeats and bows his head again.

"Thank you," Anakin echoes again, bowing again too.

"Right," Windu says and gives them a severe look. "You two will be watched _very carefully_ and Kenobi – you will be assigned with sessions with a Mind Healer, until we're sure of your mental stability. You've lost a Master and gained – a pair bond, I assume, with an infant creature. This is _extremely_ serious, I'm sure you understand that."

"Yes, Masters. I understand completely," Obi-Wan says, still bowing. "Thank you for your consideration."

Yoda nods. "Now, tend to Qui-Gon we must. His body, that is. His… previous body," he trails off and scowls. "Most unusual this is. Still, a pyre he deserves."

* * *

 

Qui-Gon's pyre is both solemn and really weird as ceremonies go. Anakin is more used to people being… processed after they die. In Tatooine, no one burns bodies, and no one certainly buries them. Apparently all Jedi are burned, though. It's a tradition.

It's weird, watching Qui-Gon burn while feeling Qui-Gon alive in Obi-Wan's arms.

"It is an unusual situation," Obi-Wan says beside him, little Qui-Gon sitting sleepily on top of his folded legs, while Anakin stands beside them. Obi-Wan looks tired. "If it wasn't for this, I'd in mourning," he murmurs, brushing his fingers gently through the fur on top of Qui-Gon's lion head. "It is – very confusing."

"Yeah," Anakin agrees, staring into the fire for a moment. "I'm glad he isn't, though, dead. Completely dead, anyway."

"Yes," Obi-Wan says, staring at the fire. Then he looks at Anakin. "We don't know if he will remember who he was, though. Right now he doesn't think much of anything beyond his physical needs. If this creature will ever remember being Master Qui-Gon Jinn… it's debateable."

"It will still be Qui-Gon, though, won't it?" Anakin asks and crouches down beside him. The lion is staring at the fire, looking sleepy and softly confused.

"Yes. I think so," Obi-Wan says.

"So… that bond stuff," Anakin says, crossing his arms over his knees. "You can get into his head? How does it work?"

"Force is controlled by our thoughts and our emotions," Obi-Wan says quietly. "Because of that, a Jedi's thoughts carry a power of their own. Sometimes, when two individuals trained in the use of the Force are close enough, they can form bonds in the Force, a sort of mental link that can carry emotions and even coherent thoughts between them through even large distances."

He looks down to the lion cub. "Master Qui-Gon and I had a training bond – the most common Force bond between Jedi is one between a Master and a Padawan. After years of it, our Force presences are in a sense… compatible for easy bonding."

Anakin nods slowly. "So will we have a bond too?"

"Perhaps, one day," Obi-Wan admits and smiles a little awkwardly. "Would you like it?"

"I don't know. Having someone in my head, that sounds kind of creepy," Anakin admits. "I don't know if I'd like to have you in my head."

"There are ways to block it off – you will be taught to shield your mind," Obi-Wan assures him. "Being bonded doesn't mean loosing your privacy or autonomy. Only that you're a little less alone in the Force."

"Hmm," Anakin answers and they looks down at Qui-Gon for a moment and then up to his pyre. "Not being alone," Anakin says then and sits down on the floor beside Obi-Wan, shuffling a little closer. "I'd like that."

Obi-Wan looks at him and then, awkwardly, winds an arm around him. "So would I, Anakin," he agrees and looks down at Qui-Gon. "So would I."

**Author's Note:**

> I posted part of this in my Tumbling Star Wars files and I really wasn't going to write more... but the reception was surprisingly positive, so I continued it. 
> 
> And if you're asking yourself, why a lion then; Glorious Mane of Hair, Some Excellent Fanart, and yes, Chronicles of Narnia, though in weirdly lesser part. Mostly it was the Hair, really.


End file.
